For immediate release: Friday 9 November Barbican December 2018 / January 2019 highlights Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Sir Antonio Pappano present a programme that reflects on the pity of war and the tragic loss of those called up from the fields to fight in Requiem, taking place in the Barbican Hall. A spirit of hopefulness characterises the third edition of CN Lester’s Transpose at the Barbican, as trans voices come together to look to the future. The London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2018) returns to the Barbican for its fifteenth year with a ten-day celebration of events. The pioneering autumn exhibition Modern Couples: Art, Intimacy and the Avant- garde continues in Barbican Art Gallery. You and AI considers the big questions surrounding Artificial Intelligence today with Professor Brian Cox. CINEMA Comedy Couples Sat 8–Thu 13 Dec 2018, Cinemas 2 & 3 As the Modern Couples exhibition continues in Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Cinema celebrates a trio of classics showcasing cinema’s funniest romantic comedy duos from esteemed directors Frank Capra, Vittoria De Sica and Édouard Molinaro. While the relationships of cinema’s most famous double acts are platonic in nature, these films show that comedy and romantic chemistry make for a perfect match; they include: It Happened One Night (USA, 1934 dir Frank Capra), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Italy 1963, dir Vittorio De Sica) and La Cage aux Folles (France 1978, dir Édouard Molinaro). These screenings, curated by the Barbican, are taking place as part of the BFI’s Comedy Genius season. London International Animation Festival Fri 30 Nov–Sun 9 Dec 2018, Cinemas 1 & 2 The London International Animation Festival (LIAF 2018) returns to the Barbican for its fifteenth year with a ten-day celebration of events, screentalks and over 200 of the best recent and retrospective animated shorts and features from around the world. Over 100 films have been selected to screen in ten International Competition Programmes, including the British Showcase, Into the Dark (scary shorts), From Absurd to Zany (comedy shorts), Animated Documentaries and the Abstract Showcase. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes + introduction by Adrian Wootton USA 1953, Dir Howard Hawks, 91 mins Tue 11 Dec 2018, Cinema 3, 8.30pm Marilyn Monroe stars as showgirl Lorelei Lee in Howard Hawks’s classic musical comedy. A gorgeous Technicolor Hollywood glamour fest with classic comedy scenes and bravura musical numbers thrown in. Architecture on Film: The Dilapidated Dwelling + Patrick Keiller introduction and Q&A UK, 2000, Patrick Keiller, 78 mins Tue 29 Jan 2019, Cinema 1 In Patrick Keiller’s (London, Robinson in Ruins) ‘lost’ film, a fictional researcher (Tilda Swinton) dissects Britain’s relationship with its extraordinarily expensive and backward housing. Past architectural innovations do battle with present day crises, through a narrative of facts, fiction and interviews. Curated by The Architecture Foundation. London International Mime Festival 2019 The General (U) + live accompaniment by GSMD Jazz students - Silent Film and Live Music Sun 20 Jan 2019, Cinema 1, 4pm Buster Keaton stars as Johnnie Gray, a locomotive driver in the American South during the civil war. When his favourite engine, ‘The General’, is stolen by Yankee spies with his on-again-off-again girlfriend Annabelle aboard, Keaton gives chase in another engine, ‘The Texas’. Regarded by many as Buster Keaton’s greatest achievement, and reportedly his own personal favourite, The General is equal parts comedy and action-adventure. MUSIC Jóhann Jóhannsson: Last and First Men Sat 1 Dec 2018, Barbican Hall, 8pm Tickets £20–35 plus booking fee Last and First Men is a multimedia work by Oscar-nominated Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, combining film – featuring narration by Tilda Swinton – and music, with the score performed live by the London Symphony Orchestra under conductor Daníel Bjarnason, and vocal performance by Theatre of Voices (Else Torp, Kate Browton). Cinematography is by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen and lighting design by Stuart Bailes. Based on the cult science fiction novel by Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men is a requiem for the last of humankind, using music, film and Tilda Swinton’s mournful narration to form a poetic meditation on memory and loss. It sits somewhere between fiction and documentary, placing images of a decaying futuristic landscape – filmed in 16mm black and white in the former Yugoslav republics – against Jóhannsson’s haunting orchestral score. Jóhann Jóhannsson – whose soundtracks have included Arrival, The Theory of Everything and Sicario – spent seven years crafting the work before its premiere at the Manchester International Festival in summer 2017. Sadly, Jóhann Jóhannsson died in February 2018, shortly after this Barbican concert was announced. After consultation with Jóhann’s family and estate, it has been agreed to go ahead with the performance, in tribute to him. Jóhann will not be replaced with another musician in this concert, but recordings that he made of his own parts will be used instead. Sheku Kanneh-Mason in recital Sun 2 & Tue 4 Dec 2018, Milton Court, 7.30pm Tickets £15–30 plus booking fee Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has quickly become one of the most eloquent and charismatic presences on the UK concert scene following his triumph in BBC Young Musician in 2016. He will make his Milton Court Concert Hall debut in a performance to include Boccherini’s Cello Sonata No 6 in A major – written when the composer was only a few years older than Kanneh-Mason himself. This work, defined by its 18th-century sensibility, provides striking contrast to the other three sonatas in this programme: Brahms’ impassioned Cello Sonata No 2 in F major, Poulenc’s playful sonata and the experimental cello sonata by Debussy. Sheku is accompanied on piano by his sister Isata Kanneh-Mason, an accomplished soloist in her own right. Ian Bostridge and Sir Antonio Pappano: Requiem Wed 5 Dec 2018, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm Tickets £15–45 plus booking fee In Requiem, tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Sir Antonio Pappano present a programme that reflects on the pity of war and the tragic loss of those called up from the fields to fight. The concert centres on songs by George Butterworth and Rudi Stephan: British and German composers who both fell in battle. It also features songs by Mahler (from Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Revelge, Der Tambourg’sell and Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen), Britten (from Who Are These Children: Nightmare, Slaughter, Who are these children? and The Children) and Kurt Weill (Four Walt Whitman Songs). Diana Damrau sings Strauss Wed 16 & Sat 26 Jan 2019, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm Tickets £15–65 plus booking fee The Diana Damrau sings Strauss series sees one of the world’s leading coloratura sopranos in three concerts interpreting the music of Richard Strauss across the second half of the Barbican Presents 2018/19 season. The celebrated singer continues to thrill audiences with her voice and stage presence and she launches her exploration on Wednesday 16 January with an evening of solo song with pianist Helmut Deutsch. The recital includes Strauss’s song cycle Mädchenblumen Op. 22, alongside further works by the composer and Lieder by Wolf and Liszt. For her second concert in the series, Damrau is joined by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons. The programme comprises Strauss’s final masterpiece the Four Last Songs as well as the composer’s autobiographical work Ein Heldenleben. The series reaches its finale on Sunday 31 March with the London Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda. The programme features the final scene of Richard Strauss’ opera Capriccio, written at the end of his life, and also Strauss’s Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel. Part of Diana Damrau sings Strauss. HPSCHD: Music for electronics and Harpsichord / Mahan Esfahani Thu 17 Jan 2019, Milton Court, 7.30pm Tickets £17.50–25 plus booking fee Since making his London debut in 2009, multi-award winning Iranian harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has worked tirelessly to establish the harpsichord in the mainstream of concert instruments in classical and contemporary repertoire. His debut at Milton Court Concert Hall includes the world premiere of Faroese composer Sunleif Rasmussen’s Quadroforone (a Barbican commission), alongside the UK premiere of a new work by Anahita Abbasi, an Iranian composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music. These new works will complement three 20th-century works written specifically for the instrument: Berio’s Rounds, Xenakis’ Khoaï and excerpts from John Cage’s HPSCHD – scored for harpsichord and magnetic tapes. Pantha Du Prince – Conference of Trees Sat 19 Jan 2019, Barbican Hall, 8.30pm Tickets £17.50–22.50 plus booking fee Conference of Trees is a new audio-visual project by Berlin-based techno composer- producer Hendrik Weber, aka Pantha Du Prince, exploring the communication of trees and translating it into music with a live ensemble. In the work, Weber transforms this biochemical conversation into a musical performance: cell biological data of different trees is converted into sound and further into notation for acoustic instruments. Trees have been the topic of many musical compositions throughout history but here Weber lets the trees speak for the first time, wishing to remind audiences of the importance of trees for our ecosystem. The live ensemble on stage uses instruments that have been handcrafted by the composer during his exploration of the different sound characteristics of wood. Conference of Trees is part of the Barbican’s 2019 season, Life Rewired, which explores what it means to be human when technology is changing everything. Tristia: Requiems for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette Fri 25 Jan 2019, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm Tickets £15–45 plus booking fee A special UK performance by renowned French Baroque ensemble Le Concert Spirituel and conductor Hervé Niquet in a programme featuring Berlioz’s seldom performed Tristia, marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.